Bedminster School squeezed by small state budget cap

BEDMINSTER TWP. - School Board Member Roseanne Dickovitch said
at an agenda meeting last Thursday night that the district is
"hundreds of thousands of dollars over" the budget increase allowed
under the state cap. "We just have to look at what we're going to
cut at this point," said Dickovitch, who chairs the board's budget
subcommittee.

Residents will be invited to express their opinions on spending
areas that could be reduced, programs that should be saved and
other related issues at a budget input session scheduled for 7:30
p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22.

According to Dickovitch, Bedminster is permitted to increase the
portion of its budget that falls under cap regulations by 4.67
percent.

Unfortunately, she said, several budget items within the cap
including special education, student transportation, utilities and
employee health benefits have seen cost increases much higher than
4.67 percent.

Board President Mark Sperber said that paying for the high
increase items puts the squeeze on other areas of the budget that
are directly related to educational quality.

"There's a serious question developing about class sizes in the
lower grades" next year, said Sperber.

Currently, each lower grade level is broken into four sections,
with class sizes averaging 17 to 19 students. Under board policy,
noted Sperber, class sizes in the lower grades should not exceed
19-20 children.

But unless Bedminster is allowed to exceed its cap, he said,
it's possible that the number of sections in some grades would have
to be reduced from four to three. "If we lose a teacher, there
would be 20-plus students," Sperber said.

Currently, said Sperber, the proposed 2001-02 school spending
plan is $300-400,000 over the amount permitted by the state
cap.

While some cuts may be possible that wouldn't affect the
school's educational program, he said, the majority of cuts
would.

Sperber pointed out that the board doesn't have much ability to
reduce costs related to special education, transportation,
utilities and health benefits. "We don't think it's reasonable to
include these items within the cap, because there's no way you can
control them," he said.

One possible recourse is for the board to request a cap waiver
from state and county education officials. Last year, Bedminster
was able to spend an additional $200,000 after receiving such a
waiver.

However, Interim Superintendent John Deibert didn't seem
optimistic about the district's chances of receiving another
waiver.

"We're looking at waivers, we're looking at what we can do, but
the options are not promising at this point," Deibert warned the
board.

A second alternative, said Sperber, is placing a special
question on the April 17 school ballot asking voters to approve
extra spending to maintain small class sizes.

Sperber said he would welcome the public's comments on this
possibility. "It's important that people don't take small class
sizes for granted," he emphasized.

One thing that may help the district, said Sperber, is the fact
that Bedminster' s tax ratables have grown so much during the past
year that school taxes will dr op even with a budget
increase.

According to Dickovitch, the total assessed value of all
property in the township is up about 13 percent. That means there
are more taxpayers commercial and residential to share the property
tax burden.

Last year, because of growth in ratables, the school property
tax rate dropped by more than half a cent, from 64.8 to 64.1 cents
per $100 of assessed valuation.

The continued ratables growth, Sperber said, means that another
tax cut would occur even if Bedminster were permitted to increase
its cap to 5.67 percent.

"For that reason, it's kind of ironic that we find ourselves in
this pickle," Sperber commented.

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